History Lesson
by Psychodahlia
Summary: How do immortals react to human events? First chapter: Pearl Harbor. Second chapter: the 1963 march on Washington.
1. Chapter 1

December 8, 1941

Carlisle reached over and turned the knob, shutting off the radio. There was nothing but repeats of old broadcasts, no new information. In the absence of the news announcer, silence reigned for a few moments.

"Those bastards." Rosalie said, her voice unusually passionate. Carlisle supposed he shouldn't be so surprised at the venom in her words. True, she had never hinted at any patriotic feelings before, but the direct and unprovoked attack had touched a nerve. Despite her apparent shallowness, it was a brave soul who trifled with something Rosalie held dear.

"Carlisle, what if there's a draft?" Esme grabbed his hand, her bright gold eyes wide with fear. It was a good question, one he couldn't answer.

"Why wait for the draft?" Emmett said. "Seriously, why wait? Hell, I bet the three of us can dodge bullets. We can get a gun and practice before we go. But why wait until they draft us?"

Carlisle spoke for the first time. "Because they'll want a pulse. And possibly a blood sample. And we would have to go to boot camp where we'd be out in the sun for most of the day." He loved Emmett but the boy just didn't think sometimes. Right now, they all needed to think.

His thoughts kept running back to the headline. Japs Bomb Pearl Harbor. It was hard to think about anything else.

Emmett looked conflicted. "I'm no draft dodger."

Rosalie leaned into her husband, entwining her fingers in his. "You can't go." She whispered. "Even if you can dodge bullets, if the Japs don't kill you the Volturi…" She trailed off.

Edward reached over and rubbed his brother's shoulder in a moment of sibling affection. "Don't let it worry you. We know you're not a draft dodger. Just like you know Carlisle and I aren't either."

"Yeah."

"That still doesn't answer the question: what happens if there is a draft?" Esme was still looking at Carlisle, silently pleading with him to have an answer.

He sighed. "I don't know." He turned away from his wife to look at his children. "Any contribution we make to the war effort will have to be covert."

"Do we know if the Japs have any covens? We could take them out." Emmett brightened.

The hand on his shoulder whapped him. Edward scowled. "Dumb idea. First, we don't know anybody in Japan. Second, we don't know if any Japanese covens had anything to do with this. Third, Roosevelt isn't going to fight a war on two fronts. England and Russia will want our help to defeat Germany first." He looked at Carlisle. "Am I right?"

"Yes, but don't call your brother dumb." That gentle chastisement brought a sense of normality to him. It was as if he realized that whatever decision he made, life wouldn't stop. "You bring up a good point. America will go to war against Germany."

"We don't know any covens in Germany." Edward pointed out.

"But we do know the Romanian coven, who would help us if it meant irritating the Volturi. The Nomads would help us if asked. Charles owes me a favor from the seventeenth century…" A small smile curved upwards as plans formed. "Europe has potential."

Esme still looked worried. "I don't like this." She clutched her only daughter's hand.

"It's happened, whether we like it or not is irrelevant. We'll just have to make the best of it and help end it." Carlisle smiled at his gentle mate. "We have less to worry about than most."

Emmett grinned. "We have more to look forward to than most. Don't worry, Esme. We'll be careful."

She arched an eyebrow. "We? You don't think Rosalie and I are coming?" The two women mock-glared at him. Edward comically scooted away, out of firing range.

"Um…Carlisle, help me out here."

"No." That set the coven laughing. Relieved that he could take care of his family emotionally as well as physically, he clarified what would happen. "We go together. Now is not the time to split the coven up. Besides," He glanced at Rosalie. "why leave behind two of our best fighters?"

Later, when he and Esme lay awake in their bed, he would almost beg for her reassurance that he was doing the right thing. During the next few weeks, he did not envy President Roosevelt.

End part one.

* * *

Author's notes: I'm a bit hesitant about this one. First because of the subject matter and second because I can't imagine Emmett was very concerned about being politically correct at this time.

This was kind of an interesting way to write Carlisle. How does a very powerful vampire, whose main concern is his coven, feel and act when his adopted country is under attack and his ability to help is limited? How does he react when the humans try and destroy each other? For someone whose super power is compassion watching human drama unfold must suck.

There will be more to come. Ever wonder how Jasper reacted to the sixties? How Rosalie dressed in the eighties? It's coming.


	2. Chapter 2

August 27, 1963

It was a good thing they didn't have any body heat. Bundled up in long pants and jackets as they were, if they were human they all would have suffered from heat stroke. Why did the march have to be in August anyway? Stupid sun would probably fry them before they got to D.C.

Jasper slumped lower in the car seat and stared out the window. He didn't like Virginia. It was too schizophrenic. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be a wacky liberal state, or a conservative one, where normal people lived. It wasn't really part of the South. It was more like the fake South. A wannabe. Virginia: where all you had to do to prove your Southern credentials was say 'ya'll' a lot. Morons didn't even realize it was 'all ya'll.'

He was torn away from his silent hatred of Virginia when Carlisle pulled the car in a gas station. "C'mon. Time to stretch a bit."

Edward all but flew out of the passenger's seat. Emmett sat up and scratched his belly. Vampires didn't sleep but he still looked like he'd just woken up from a nap. "Where're we?" He mumbled.

"Gas station." Jasper unclicked the seat belt and climbed out of the car.

"Where're the girls?" Emmett looked around the parking lot. "I don't see their car." Esme had said she wanted 'bonding time' with her daughters, prompting gender segregated cars. It had also prompted a remark from Emmett about why wasn't Edward driving with the other girls.

Emmett could be a jerk sometimes. A funny jerk, but a jerk. "We probably lost them on the highway. We'll meet up with them at the hotel." Jasper noticed Carlisle going into the gas station and Edward was pumping gas.

"I wanted to meet up with them now. And have sex with Rosalie in the car."

"Thanks Emmett. I really wanted to think of my sister like that."

Edward spoke up. "Just be glad you can't hear what he's thinking."

Emmett grinned. "Awww. Sorry Ed, but your breasts just aren't big enough to interest me…"

Jasper left the two to their bickering and went to join Carlisle. He had no interest in listening to the two argue, or worse, feeling their emotions. He pushed the creaky door to the gas station open and went inside.

Beyond the rows of overpriced candy and twenty cent soda pop, his adoptive father was leaning against the counter, surrounded by several other men. They were crowded around a small television with a grainy picture and old fashioned rabbit ears. One of the men shook his head.

"They sayin' they worried 'bout it gettin' violent." One of the men said. "That the Reverend want folks to trash the place."

Carlisle snorted. "I've heard the Reverend speak on several occasions. He has never incited violence."

Another man broke into a grin. "You heard the man speak?"

"I'm taking my wife and kids to hear him tomorrow. This one," He pointed at Jasper. "begged to come."

"I didn't beg. I asked."

"Repeatedly. And you swore to behave too. That qualifies as begging."

"I did not beg."

The man behind the counter chuckled. "Don't sass your Daddy now."

"I think he enjoys it. Besides, he's the one who wanted a family."

The men chuckled. "Those two out there yours?" He pointed out the window. Carlisle turned his head and winced at the scene. Emmett and Edward were fighting.

"I'd love to say they belong to someone else but…" He shook his head. "They're mine. Excuse me." He ran out of the station and a second later they watched him pull the squabbling boys apart and push them back to the car.

Jasper shook his head. "It's hard being the responsible one. Excuse me." He smiled at the humans and left the gas station, passing Carlisle on his way out. "I'll be in the car."

"I need to pay for the gas. We'll leave in a minute."

Outside, Emmett and Edward were pointedly not speaking to each other. Their clothes were rumpled and torn from the fight and Edward was pumping gas with his left arm now. Jasper looked from one to the other. "Are you going to fight all the way to Washington D.C.?"

Edward said "No." at the same time Emmett said "Probably."

"In that case I'm going to let you two have the backseat so you're within hitting distance of each other."

"Hey!"

"Shotgun!" Several aspects of family life eluded him. Shotgun was not one of them. Having your own seat in the car was not something to take for granted. Jasper dove into the passenger's seat and was ready to go when Carlisle came out.

Everybody calmed down once they started driving again. Edward and Emmett sat at different ends of the car and didn't speak. Carlisle drove and Jasper stared out the window, once again wrapped up in how much he hated Virginia.

"Why did you beg to come? I know you hate crowds."

"It's not about the damned crowds."

"Language, please. What is it about?"

Jasper hesitated. "I was wrong. I hate admitting it, but I was wrong. If the Confederates had won those men back there…" He shook his head. "I was wrong."

Carlisle took one hand off the wheel and reached over to briefly pet Jasper's hair. He flinched at the unexpected touch. He had yet to get used to the constant hugging and physical signs of love the Cullens accepted as normal. Carlisle noticed his discomfort and drew his hand back. "It takes a lot for a man to admit his mistakes. I'm proud of you."

August 28, 1963

Jasper wrapped his hand in Alice's, forcing himself to concentrate on her presence. The crowds were overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands and humans with red, delicious smelling blood running through their veins, pressed around him, tempting him. He hadn't been a vegetarian that long and the last thirteen years had been broken up with mistakes and his inability to resist temptation. _God, please don't let me screw this up…_

"Are you okay?" Alice whispered. "We can go back to the hotel if you want."

He shook his head, burying the urge to feed. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"I begged Carlisle to let me come, I'm not going to spend the day hiding in a hotel room."

"You let me know if it gets too much." She squeezed his hand and smiled. "He's about to speak!"

Sure enough the crowd cheered when the Reverend stepped out on the Lincoln Memorial and began to speak. His voice echoed and the hundreds of thousands were silent, eager to catch every word. "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation..."

End part two

* * *

Author's note: Schools like to give lip service to Reverend King's speech by quoting the part about the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners, mumbling something about how we're all equal, making us do a project on some obscure individual (I got to write a three page report on a lady who sold shampoo! So fascinating...not.) and then dropping the subject. But (in my school district anyway) they never did a very good job of teaching the speech itself. I didn't hear it in its entirety until I was in college when a rhetoric teacher played an audio of it. It's a great use of language and did more to convince me the Reverend was awesome than any half hearted lecture during February ever did. Go listen to it and read it in full. You'll understand it better and appreciate it more.

That last line is the beginning of his speech.

Oh, and Jasper's right about Virginia. We are kinda schizophrenic. Northern VA is all about the liberalism and Southern VA is all about frying up a Yankee every Thanksgiving. Throw in Pat Robertson and PETA and it's enough to make my head spin.


End file.
